You have the choice for the future of our planet.

Why not a living Christmas tree?

The Christmas tree tradition is deeply rooted for the majority of Canadian homes. At the time of my childhood I used to go with my father to the countryside equipped with an ax to get a fir tree; there was always someone in the family who had a land with wild firs (non-cultivated). In the sixties, cars were big enough to attach the tree on the top. Sometimes we came back with a Christmas spruce that my father thought was more garnished. This was before I understood the difference between the two species. According to the photos of my childhood Christmases, I can say that I was mislead a few times but I know it was “fir” the best.

me wondering if a spruce or a fir

Today one just have to go to a busy street corner to buy a tree well packaged like a sausage that we will, once placed in the house, be decorated with beautiful ornaments.

However, this tree that symbolizes Noel (Latin Natalis), meaning birth that is to say life, is indeed dead or in agony. In January, its remains will be tossed with the weekly garbage.

This year we decided to celebrate life with a tree well alive. As I used to do, I went to the countryside with my father, now 92, but this time without the ax. We went to a nursery in Bromont to look for our Christmas tree with its roots wrapped in a cloth. As the intention is to replant it in the spring, we have chosen a spruce tree, more adapted to be replanted.

It took all our ingenuity to hoist the mastodon into the house. Once transferred from the car to a hand truck, we crossed the steps of the entrance with 2 X 6 (spruce) then, with the help of a strong waterproof canvas which will serve as envelope for the roots, we managed to place it in the house on a mini pallet (under which we glued felt pieces to prevent scratches). We made sure to avoid direct contact with the floor as moisture could affect it. It will be watered weekly until re-planting in the spring.

It is true that the adventure required more organization than getting a cut tree, but the effort is largely compensated by the pleasure that we will have to see this 2017 Christmas tree grow in the backyard.

This option is of course hardly accessible for those who live in an apartment, but you can encourage your loved ones, who may have a house, to adhere to the concept.

With us the tradition of a Christmas tree is now well deeply rooted in every sense of the word.